Satzbau – Bausatz W1

For Peter Weibel, language is a tool, a formal mechanism, a mechanical apparatus of finite elements (e.g., 26 letters) and rules (e.g., grammar). Language not only consists of signs, it is something material, physical, with which humanity has operated for centuries. The construction of worlds by language is already laid out in the language itself; in word constellations such as »sentence construction« or »construction kit«: sentences are constructed from elements of the construction kit. Language is a kit with which the world is built, or sentence construction constructs the world. There are operative links between mentalism, mechanism, and materialism. 

A wooden box has a total of 33 drawers on which the letters of the alphabet and various punctuation marks are written. If you exert pressure on the drawers or the letters, they open automatically t. The box becomes a keyboard with which words and sentences can be produced. The work »Satzbau – Bausatz W1« [Syntax – Kit W1], which was constructed for the first time in 1989 and reconstructed in 2014 with a slight modification, invites us to understand the creation of words and sentences, that is, sentence construction, as a technical kit that has to be actively constructed. The free drawers can be assigned to further symbols or letters. 

For reasons of conservation, the interactive use of the work is limited to guided tours.